Meditate for Peace, Justice and Freedom

As members of the Buddhist community, we support the efforts of Bersih and show support to the Bersih 3.0 initiative. We shall support with actions motivated by the practice of the Brahmaviharas of Loving-kindness, Compassion, Appreciative Joy and Equanimity. We invite every one of you concerned Buddhist practitioner to come join us on April 28, 2012 and be part of social transformation.

We will be present at Dataran Merdeka and participate by sitting in silent contemplation and with peace in our hearts and minds we will radiate Metta to the EC, Government of the day and to all Malaysians everywhere – without fear, without anger and without animosity. We shall evoke warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and love, which grows boundless with practice and overcomes all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. Metta is indeed a universal, unselfish and all-embracing love.

Buddha’s teaching is fundamentally about dukkha and the end of dukkha. Dukkha can be translated as suffering, unsatisfactoriness or situations of pain and difficulty. Dukkha can manifests itself both mentally and physically as well as collectively, we call this structural dukkha. As reminded by the Buddha in Majjhima Nikaya 22, ‘I teach only Dukkha and the end of Dukkha’, He inspired His follower when He reached out to help everyone he met and gave them a lifeline to overcome dukkha. The Buddha did not stop there, he saw the interconnectedness nature of things and responded to structural and societal dukkha. He was fully aware of some of the social issues and challenges of His time. He made conscious and deliberate decision to address social issues that hindered peace, justice, freedom and above all, spiritual development. He removed the caste system that plagued so many people in India during his time, giving the equal opportunity to spiritual practice by ordaining followers from all walks of life and put them all on equal footing. The Buddha addressed the equality of women and gave equal opportunity to women, unheard of at that time, to be ordained as bhikkhunis (nuns).

More importantly, the Buddha praised and promoted peace within society as well as amongst individuals. The J?taka says: ?Let us train in peace because this is praised by the Buddhas.? (Ja.IV,211). The Buddha commented that even the gods envy the person who lives in peace (Ud.30). He described himself as ?a reconciler of those at variance and an encourager of those already united, rejoicing in peace, loving peace, delighting in peace, speaking in favour of peace? (D.I,4). But the Buddha was not just at peace himself, nor did he merely speak up for peace, he also actively did what he could to promote it. On one occasion, the S?kyans and their neighbours the Koliyans, were about to go to war over the water in the river that divided their countries from each other – the Buddha stood in between the neighbors, intervened. Spiritual practice is not separate form social engagement.

As such, it is our duty and Malaysian citizens and Dharma practitioners, to take our spiritual practice to the social level to affect change. Many of us recognize that our country is in crisis, and is in dire need for greater peace, freedom and liberty. One of the drivers of change is to have very open and fair elections where each and every Malaysian adult vote is considered and recognized. In this way, we can begin to move towards being a nation with a high level of integrity to address structural dukkha where all people have the opportunity to lead a more free and happier lives.

If, for whatever reasons, you are not able to participate in Dataran Merdeka, we encourage you to organize and announce a “Buddhist for Bersih 3.0” meditation sessions in your temples, Buddhist centers, Dharma houses and even parks between 2 – 4pm, 28 April 2012. During the session, each group/groups will take turn to sit in silent contemplation and with peace in our hearts and minds, we will radiate Metta to the Bersih organisers, participants of Bersih 3.0, our elected representative, EC, Government of the day and to all Malaysian everywhere – without fear, without anger and without animosity. Invoke warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and love, which grows boundless with practice and overcomes all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers.

Do inform us of your participation and we shall share this about to let you know that you are not alone.